Evan Miller grew up in Stuart, Florida, not far from the St Lucie Locks and Dam. He attended Crystal Lakes Elementary School, Hidden Oaks Middle School, South Fork and Martin County High Schools, graduating in 2002.
As a kid, Evan would ride his bike down to the St Lucie Locks and Dam with his friends. He knew the sad story of the lake and St Lucie River. He knew about the long history and steady destruction of the waterways he loved that one day would come to a head. But little did he know, that it would happen in his lifetime, and he would lead the message.
The story is this—
After graduating, Evan was sponsored as a professional surfer and lived in Costa Rica, and came home in 2012. Upon his return, he saw the river’s decline and innocently put a message on his Facebook page during the “Lost Summer os 2013,” when the river was posted by the Health Department as “off-limits.” Evan’s message read: “Who wants to meet me at the locks?”
Believe it or not, this request turned into a rally of over 5000 people!
Two weeks later, Evan organized a beach rally, putting down stakes and having a surveyor friend help him create the letters–over 2000 people came and spelled out in the sand SAVE OUR RIVER.
Destiny had found its man…
Now in 2016, under even worse conditions, after the St Lucie River and area beaches turned into a toxic-soup from an onslaught of releases from Lake Okeechobee since January—- that in time were dumping toxic algae from the lake into the river—- Evan has used his Facebook talents again.
This past Saturday, on July 3rd, the Martin County Sheriff’s Department reported that over 3500 people, from every walk of life, came out to spell in the sand the message of the masses to fix the lake and river debacle: BUY THE LAND.
This event played out over the 4th of July weekend on national media outlets. People in Martin County were getting phone calls from people in other states they had not spoken to in years. My father got a call from a man in his wedding from 1962 who lives in California. They had not spoken in years…
“What’s going on down there?”
Yes, the world has “seen” the peoples’ message thanks to Evan.
SAVE OUR RIVER/BUY THE LAND!
Sometimes it’s just destiny…
2013/2016 Evan Miller
From the Cub Ed Lippisch and Scott Kuhns2016 The crowd. Rebecca Fatzinger2016, The crowd. Rebecca Fatzingerwith daughter SummerOcean of algae July 2016 (Evan Miller)Evan Miller at the bullhorn. Kenny Hinkle looks on. (Facebook)
1. Lake O algae 6 26 2016Map of bloom2. Lake O algae 6 26 2016SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. S-308 is at the lake, Port Mayaca and S-80 along the C-44 canal. Both discharge into SLR.
Today’s photos were taken by Dr Gary Goforth this past Sunday. During a trip, he flew over Lake Okeechobee.
He writes: “Jacqui–The photos are of the southeast part of Lake; the plane had just passed over Clewiston and is headed northeast. The city of Pahokee is visible along the upper right shoreline. The FPL reservoir is visible in the background. The bloom is enormous – easily over 100 sq miles in extent, although areas are patchy.” GG
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STATE OF EMERGENCY
It’s hard to understand state of emergencies.
Martin County waters are experiencing their third “state of emergency” since 2013–two of those being this year in 2016.
Yesterday, Governor Rick Scott declared one, after our county commission declared one first, over the blue-green algae blooms in the St Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon and Atlantic Ocean —I am very grateful.
What I do not understand is that when you really read between the lines, we will continue to be under siege.
After one sifts through the words of the declaration there are basic things that stand: the emergency order directs Water Management Districts and the Florida Wildlife Commission to stop flows into the lake as soon as possible coming from the north. It also allows a waiver of requirements to purchase pumps to move water south, and increases water testing.
This is all good and well, but there is one problem. This means the discharges from the lake continue– perhaps lessened, but they will continue…full of the same algae that is causing the emergency in the first place. And the lake is very high at 14.90. The dumping could go on for months even if no new water enters the lake from the north…
Until the gates at S-308 and S-80 are closed we will suffer. Like having the dike too high is a safety issue for those south of the lake, sending the lake’s algae waters to the St Lucie River is a safety issue too. Take a look.
“Too Unthinkable” sits in the algae waters of the St Lucie River-with Evinrude motor. JTL 6-26-16
The blue-green algae, the cyanobacteria–sometimes toxic— that we first saw in aerial photos over Lake Okeechobee weeks ago, is not only here, it is everywhere…our river has been made completely fresh by our government. Now the algae is blooming fluorescent green-blue, dying a putrid brown-green, flowing out of our inlet, and poisoning not only or rivers’ shores but our beaches.
On the widest level, this is a health hazard brought upon us by a “knowing government.” Our state, federal, and local governments have seen this coming for years. The slow and steady destruction of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is well documented.
Now, in 2016, all of Martin County’s beaches and the southern most beach of St Lucie County are closed. Palm City; Stuart; Rio; Sewall’s Point, Jensen. All waters are off limits. “Don’t Touch the Water.” –A health, safety and welfare issue for the people, a nightmare for local government, and a complete environmental and economic disaster for us all.
Included for purposes of documentation– to be added to the thousands of other posts on social media this weekend— I share the following, some that were shared with me…Divided into 8 sections: 1. Algae in the waves at Bathtub Beach, by JTL; 2. algae aerials at C-44, S-80, and S-308, by Dr Scott Kuhns; 3. Lake Okeechobee and St Lucie River’s extensive algae bloom, by jet pilot Dave Stone, and local pilot Ron Rowers; 4. Rio, a residential disaster, Jeff Tucker; 5. Sewall’s Point as seen from the Evan’s Cray Bridge with a river full of algae by walker Tracy Barnes; 6. Rebecca Fatzinger’s duck eating algae; 7. my Uncle Dale Hudson’s lead to Snug Harbor’s Marina “a multimillion dollar disaster,” and 8. Really blue-algae at Central Marina, Stuart/Rio.
The outpouring of the public is immense, and the powers that be, must look our way. Document, call, write, demand, and VOTE.
Jacqui
I. Bathtub Beach, JTL
Algae rolling in the tide at Bathtub Beach on Hutchison Island, 6-26-16, JTL
II. Photos by Dr Scott Kuhns Lake Okeechobee, Port Mayaca (S-308), St Lucie Locks and Dam (S-80) and C-44 canal. All aerial photos taken 6-25-16.
St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-25-16 Dr Scott KuhnsEast side of Lake O north of Port Mayaca 6-25-16S-308 structure at Port Mayaca, heavy glare on Lke Okeechobee–bloom visible on bottom left area of photograph.C-44 Canal connecting to St Lucie RiverC-44 canalC-44 canalNear Fuge Street in Martin County approaching Palm City from C-44 as it connects to the South Fork of the St Lucie River where original curves still can be seen.
III. Professional jet pilot Dave Stone coming from Lee County to Martin County 6-26-16.
Aerial Video St Lucie River approaching North River Shores at 700 feet.
Lake Okeechobee from 13,000 feet, Dave Stone 6-26-16. Mr Stone said algae on the top of the lake is visible as far as the eye can see.Near the Harborage Marina in Stuart, Roosevelt Bridge in background
……Rio approaching Roosevelt Bridge from Sewall’s Point….….…Sewall’s Point SLRSewall’s PointFloridian on west side of SLR–the border of Martin and St Lucie Counties.
IV. Jeff Tucker, Rio
Rio St Lucie River, Jeff Tucker 6-24-16……green algae turning blue=toxic.
Duck in St Lucie River’s bloom, Rebecca Fatzinger 6-24-16.
VII. Dale Hudson, alerted Ed and I to Snug Harbor Marina where we took these photos yesterday.
Snug Harbor Marina, JTL Ed looks on.blue on walldead oysters
VIII. *Central Marina, Rio/Stuart blue algae
Central Marina blue green algae….Green algae turning blue at Central Marina 6-27-16.….
“Too Unthinkable”
“Too Unthinkable” sits in the algae waters of the St Lucie River, 6-26-16. JTLSFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image, Lake O is released into the SLR through the C-44 canal. All canals and the lake destroy our estuary. The water must be redirected south and stored north and south. Fill the canals in; they have killed this area. JTL
Western side of C-44 Canal at S-80, St Lucie Locks and Dam. This structure discharges water from Lake Okeechobee and the agricultural C-44 basin created to drain lands into the St Lucie River/IRL. (Photo Dr Scott Kuhns, 6-22-16)
Today we will get a science lesson and see some new shocking photos…
Eutrophication: (Ecology.) (of a lake) characterized by an abundant accumulation of nutrients that support a dense growth of algae and other organisms, the decay of which depletes the shallow waters of oxygen in summer.
Today’s blog shares new aerial photos by Dr Scott Kuhns taken 6-22-16 of the extensive blue-green algae cyanobacteria bloom on the western side of the C-44 Canal being sent through S-80. The photos show a condition caused by mixture of polluted Lake Okeechobee and C-44 agricultural basin water filled with an overabundance of nitrogen and phosphorus primarily from decades of intense agricultural farming north, south and around Lake Okeechobee. Scientists have documented this condition of “eutrophication” since the late 1960s and predicted it would worsen unless serious corrections were put in place.
These nutrients, now out of control, feed algae blooms and have caused the eutrophication (or overabundance of algae growth) of Lake Okeechobee. The St Lucie River is now experiencing this due to our manmade connection to the lake. Our agricultural canals of C-44, C-23, C-24, and C-25 are culprits too. The giant releases from the lake and canals make our river fresh and seeded with algae water. Sometimes growing toxic.
The bloom on the west side of S-80 at St Lucie Locks and Dam was first documented by local activist this time in late May. The ACOE has been dumping since January 29, 2016. The river is now almost entirely fresh. Perfect for blooms.
Yesterday the St Lucie River went up in algae with multiple reports throughout the entire river from Palm City, Rio, Stuart, Jensen, and Sewall’s Point. Could there be a correlation considering the bloom started in the eutrophic lake ? How could there not be.
Dr Kuhns’ comment?
“Ridiculous!!! What does it take?”
We should not be connected to the lake. Agricultural canals should be redirected. There must be storage to treat this algae water. It should not be sent into our estuary destroying property and the environment.
C-44 at S-80 St Lucie Locks and Dam looking east. Scott Kuhns
From what I’m told, the last water story the Discovery Channel did was on Flint Michigan….perhaps the next will be on the Lake Okeechobee and the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon….
Discovery reporter Katie Carpenter visited Stuart yesterday just for a tour. She visited Florida Oceanographic speaking to Mark Perry, others, and then met with me at the Town of Sewall’s Point for a tour of the area. She is just doing preliminaries–groundwork, seeing if there is a story.
I did my usual spiel trying to be a good hostess; I’ve done this before for high level government officials and reporters, and I am happy to do it—-it’s how we are going to change this mess–by sharing our story, putting it out for the world. So I put my smile on, got out my history books, maps, photographs, and river advocacy educational materials from 2013 and offered a road tour.
I figured we’d hit a few places and maybe there would be some algae blooms to show her. Maybe they’d look toxic–
Not only did I see particulate algae in the water off Sewall’s Point but mats of it awaited us at Sandsprit Park, The Harborage Marina under the Roosevelt Bridge in Stuart, and most dramatically at St Lucie Locks and Dam where the waters of Lake Okeechobee are released by the ACOE along C-44 through Structure-80 into the South Fork of the St Lucie River.
Today I will share some photos and videos from the trip to continue documenting this 2016 Lake O Event that started January 29th, 2016.
It’s a crazy story isn’t it? From most biodiverse estuary in North America to a health hazard.
I wish there were a better story to Discover.
Katie was brought to our area through locals who referred her here. We have many connections. Yes, the world is Discovering what is happening here, and this exposure will help facilitate change because we definitely have a story.
LOCATION #1
St Lucie Locks and Dam 6-21-16St Lucie Locks and Dam looking east to the SLRLooking north over algae bloom and 7 gates releasing Lake O water and agricultural canal C-44 water.Looking down at St Lucie Locks and Dam….
In our continued documentation of the 2016 Lake Okeechobee event, my husband Ed and I flew over the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon around 5:00pm on Father’s Day, 6-19-16, at the very end of an outgoing tide. Being a stormy day, there was poor lighting, but it was easy to see the darkness that enveloped the river due to the discharges of surrounding agricultural canals, and tidal runoff, and especially the high and long-going releases from Lake Okeechobee. The dark plume hugged the coast and jutted far out into the Atlantic having no clear edge as it was churned up from high winds and waves. Nonetheless from above, it’s shadow was visible for miles all the way south to the Jupiter Inlet.
Over the weekend there were multiple reports of algae blooms throughout the river and canals. Below are photos from a family boat ride in the vicinity of the Harborage Dock in Downtown Stuart yesterday, showing foam and algae at the shoreline and tiny specks of algae dispersed throughout the entire river.
“One resident nearby of Stuart, Dr Vopal, texted: “The river is pea green! …It is time for the legislators to look at this river and consider the health of the people that live on it. ”
Over the weekend just to me and on Facebook there were reports of algae blooms not only in Stuart but along the C-44 canal, the condo/marinas along Palm City Road, the eastern area of Lake Okeechobee itself, the St Lucie Locks and Dam, the St Lucie River near Martin Memorial Hospital, Sandsprit Park, Phipps Park, and Poppleton Creek. Certainly there were many others.
As most of us know, the Army Corp of Engineers has been discharging into the St Lucie River since January 29th, 2016. The river is almost completely fresh thus these freshwater blooms— that are in the lake and upper agricultural canals prior to being released into our river (cyanobacteria is a freshwater bloom)—and then they spread throughout the river once it too is fresh from all of the discharges. Since the ACOE has been releasing since January and there has been so much rain conditions are really bad.
Ed and I will continue to document. Our region’s entire quality of life is at stake. Nothing affects our local economy more than our river. We all must continue pushing to send water south to be cleaned and conveyed to Everglades National Park as Nature intended. Call our elected officials at every level. And vote on Aug 30th in the primary.
Fondly,
Jacqui and Ed, #Skywarriors since 2013
Photos of SLR/IRL -Sewall’s Point, Sailfish Point, St Lucie Inlet, Sailfish Flat’s former seagrass beds, Jupiter Island, Atlantic Ocean’s “protected” nearshore reefs.
^-19-16 Ed Lippisch and Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch view the confluence SLR/IRL over Sewall’s Point, Sailfish Point, Sailfish Flats, St Lucie Inlet, Jupiter Island, Atlantic Ocean.
Photos shared over weekend: Phipps Park, C-44 canal, St Lucie Locks and Dam, Sandspsprit Park also from family Father’s Day boat ride Harborage Marina, Downtown Stuart.
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Foam and algae blooms in the area of Harborage Marina, Downtown Stuart, near the Roosevelt Bridge.
Harborage Marina near Roosevelt Bridge.
Lake O algae bloom shared by boater and posted by M. Connor just prior to weekend.
Pre weekend- Photos of an algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee on the east side of the lake. These photos were shared on Facebook by a river warrior and then by Michael Connor.
Sources of water ACOE/SFWMD june 2016SFWMD canal and basin map. According to Florida Oceanographic only 17% of water went into the SLR before the agriculture canals of C-23, C-24, and C-44 were dug in 1920s-1960s. Lake Okeechobee discharges on top of canal dumps are killing an already very stressed estuary. These waters must be redirected south and stored in other places that need the water. This overabundance of water is killing the St Lucie.River Kidz and Treasure Coast Rowing Club youth led a river clean up and planting of native vegetation to filter water during incoming and outgoing tides at Poppleton Creek. The creek was filled with an algae bloom. photo TC Palm
“1933 photograph shows Hugh Willoughby flying over Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point in Port Sewall. The insignia of the New York Yacht Club is on th side of the biplane.” (Photo, Dale M. Hudson from Sandra H. Thurlow’s book “Sewall’s Point, A History of a Peninsular Community of Florida’s Treasure Coast”.)
One of my favorite aerial photographs from my mother’s history books on Martin County is of the infamous Hugh Willoughby flying over the St Lucie River at Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point. In more familiar terms for boaters, this location is known as “Hell’s Gate” due to the bottle-necking of the rushing tide.
Mr Hugh de Laussat Willoughby, one of the “early birds” of aviation, and a resident of Sewall’s Point, (http://earlyaviators.com/ewilloug.htm) had the idea of locating the New York Yacht Club at the southern tip of the peninsula as envisioned in the map below. It is difficult to see in the aerial, but the insignia of the New York Yacht Club is on the side of the biplane.
The yacht club never materialized as the market crash of the late 1920s and following depression of the 1930s dashed that dream. Today many local pilots fly over the St Lucie River at this same location to photograph a different dream. –By showing the devistation, inspiring a dream for our state and federal agencies, of clean water…
Would Mr Willoughby ever have imagined his paradise would be one of controversial pollution? Never in a thousand years….
This year, the ACOE has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee since January 29th 2016; in 2013 they released May through October, and in 2014 nothing…
May the photographs or today’s ailing river inspire change, and may the spirit of Mr Willoughby keep adventure and love alive in our hearts—and the wind— ever at our backs.
New York Yacht Club Station courtesy of Sandra H. Thurlow.Cub taking photo of a cub, pilot Ron Rowers. (Photo Scott Kuhns, 2014, St Lucie River, Stuart.)St Lucie River at Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point 2016 with dark waters from Lake O releases and area run off. (Ed Lippisch)….further away–Hell’s Gate.Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point, 2016Sewall’s Point and Willoughby Point 2014.JTLEast side of Sewall’s Point and confluence SLR/IRL Lost Summer–(JTL)2013 SLR JTL
Stairs leading to the former home of Hubert W. Bessey, the Perkins family, and later William H. and Lucy Anne Shepherd ca. 1890-1947- via historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.Courtesy of “Stuart on the St Lucie,” by Sandra Henderson Thurlow.Shepherd’s Park shoreline, St Lucie River, Stuart 5-30-16. The ACOE in collaboration with the SFWMD and other state agencies has been discharging waters that cannot go south to the Everglades from Lake Okeechobee as they are blocked by the EAA. The ACOE has been releasing this year since January 29, 2016. The estuary is now fresh and breeding the algae blooms of Lake Okeechobee. JTL
My earliest memories of Stuart include stairs…stairs leading to the river…
Walking in Shepherd’s Park as a child, I would ask, “Where did those stairs go Mom?” Her answer may have gone something like this…
“Jacqui, those stairs led to a great house, one of Stuart’s first, built by pioneer, Hubert Bessey. It later became the residence of William and Lucy Ann Shepherd who first came to Stuart in the early 1900s. They came, like so many did at that time, for the fishing. Stuart, you know, was “the fishing grounds of presidents” and known as “the greatest waters in America” for this sport. Mr Shepherd was president and owner of T.H. Brooks and Company, a steel corporation in Cleveland. He and his wife were generous citizens of our community. In 1947 the house was almost demolished by a hurricane, but repaired. Then in 1949, disaster struck. Right in the middle of the winter season, the house mysteriously burned to the ground, but the stairs still stand today…” (Adapted from “History of Martin County”)
Yesterday, with these 50-year-old lessons ringing in my ears, I approached the remains of the old Shepherd residence that became today’s Shepherd’s Park. I was here on Memorial Day to meet reporter Jana Eschbach, from CBS affiliate Channel 12 News in West Palm Beach. It was Jana who had alerted me to a large fluorescent green algae bloom-more than likely toxic.
I arrived early and walked around. Lots of memories. Seeing the old stairs, I thought about how they used to lead to “the fishing grounds of presidents and the greatest fishing grounds in America.” And today, less than 100 years later, they are leading to toxic algae blooms. Never in my wildest dreams would I have foreseen this as a child.
Walking around the breakwater, I thought to myself:
“I will not give up on this place–this former paradise. It could recover if given the chance. History can repeat itself in some form here for the positive. Yes, and I will remember the words of Ernest Lyons who my mother taught me about too—the writer and editor of Stuart’s early paper–a leader and inspiration in fighting against the digging of the excessive agricultural canals that have destroyed our St Lucie River.
I mused for a second and remembered his inspirational quote:
“What men do, they can undo. And the hope for our river is in the hundreds of men and women in our communities who are resolved to save the St Lucie.”
Yes.
The recovery of this river is in the people, for no government can exist in today’s age knowingly bringing this upon its people…It continues to be our time to change history.
I was on the Army Corp of Engineers Periodic Scientist Call this past Tuesday. These are excellent calls and one learns quickly the difficulties and the burdens of water management for our state and federal agencies in the state of Florida. I have participated in the calls as an elected official for the Town of Sewall’s Point since 2012.
This past Tuesday, something was said that struck me. Mark Perry, of Florida Oceanographic, reported something to the effect that over 600 acres of seagrasses inside the St Lucie Inlet are now “sand bottom.” Six hundred acres….
I went home and asked my husband that night at dinner…”Ed could it really be six-hundred acres? The seagrasses dead?”
“Easy.” He replied. “Just think of when I lived at the house at 22 South Sewall’s Point road when we first got married in 2005, and we’d walk out with the kayaks and there was lush seagrass all the way out ….well that’s gone–its gone all around the peninsula–you can see this from the air.”
Ed took some aerial photos the day after this conversation. Yesterday. I am including them today.
—-So it’s true, 600 acres of seagrasses are dead in one of the most bio-diverse estuaries in North America, the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon or southern IRL —for many years, as many of us know, confidently cited as not “one of,” but rather, “the most diverse…”
The Army Corp has been releasing from Lake Okeechobee this year since January 29th, 2016. We are only in June and there is more to come. Yes there is…there is “more to come” from us. There has to be. Because we are losing or have lost —everything.
Please compare the 1977 photo and then the 2012 map to photos taken yesterday. Please don’t give up the fight to bring back life to this estuary.
Aerial of seagrasses in 1977 in and around Sailfish and Sewall’s Point displaying rich seagrass beds. FOSSeagrass map of seagrasses in area from SFWMD/MC ca. 2012. JTL
All aerial photos taken by Ed Lippisch, 5-25-16. St Lucie Inlet area, the Crossroads and Sailfish Flats between and around Sailfish Point and Sewall’s Point in the confluence of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon near the St Lucie Inlet. This area has been inundated by release from Lake Okeechobee and area canals for many years most recently particularly Lake O during 2013 and 2016.
Cover of the Witchery of Archery, 1879, Maurice Thompson.A young Maurice Thomson as photographed for book publication.
One of Lake Okeechobee’s earliest accounts was written by Maurice Thompson in 1879. Thompson’s book the “Witchery of Archery” is “credited with reviving the sport” and is still considered an American classic.
For me what is most interesting is Chapter VIII, entitled: “The Mysterious Lake,” written about an “untouched” Lake Okeechobee in South Florida just west of our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
You can go to the link at the end of this blog and read the entire book or chapter on-line, however for the blog reader, and for the beauty of the visual, I am providing some slides of the first few pages, and will quote–pulling, changing tense, and mixing a few lines:
“Lake Okeechobee, formerly called Mayaco, or Macaco, ever since the discovery of Florida by Europeans.. and long before, —has slept in a sort of poetical fog of mystery.
No doubt the far-famed story of the Fountain of Youth hidden away in the wild tangles of the Land of Flowers, being once disproved let fall something of its delightful romance upon the lake, which though hemmed in with most impassable swamps marshes, and everglades, and jealously guarded by all the cunning of its wild owners, really did and does exist…
This vast body of water lies on the Floridian peninsula, far towards its southern point, having a shape not unlike that of a great spider, from whose elliptical outline of body radiate short, crooked legs…
All around it stretch the cypress swamps and wet prairies, through which innumerable dark sluggish streams crawl like indolent serpents. Its shores are in most places low, only a few inches above the water, and a great portion is unapproachable…
The islands in the lake…are wild gardens of tropical fruit and parterres of fabulously beautiful flowers among which all sorts of gaudy birds and butterflies float and feast the year round. Springs of health giving water well up through he snow while sands and perpetual breezes blow cool from the rippling lake…
Vegetation is variegated and luxuriant beyond compare; gorgeous flowers and gay foliage make the woods and banks dazzlingly bright and beautiful…
No wonder the lake is jealousy guarded by the Indian, and still less the wonder that his descriptions of it are touched with the coloring of romance, and bathed in an atmosphere of fascination and mystery. “
How beautiful this place, our Lake Okeechobee, must have been…
*Lake Mayaco, Macaco, and names of similar derision were named after the native Maraca people of Florida who came from the upper area of the St. Johns River and migrated to the Lake Okeechobee region in the early 18th century. “Port Mayaca” on the east side of the lake in Indiantown, Martin County, preserves their name today.
1. Chapter 8 “The Witchery of Archery” first shared with me by historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow.2.3.
Historic aerial of Port Sewall’s Golden Gate area in 1954, US1 and Dixie in foreground. (Photo courtesy of historian, Sandra Henderson Thurlow)
If you ever drive the easterly location of Indian Street in Martin County, you are in the historic subdivision for the proposed Town of Port Sewall. According to the “History of Martin County,” in 1910, Hugh Willoughby and Captain Henry Sewall established the Sewall’s Point Land Company which developed Port Sewall–of which Golden Gate is part.
I was taken by these old aerials from 1954 showing the straight roads of the Golden Gate section of the development with Sewall’s Point and St Lucie Inlet in the distance; I wanted to compare the photo to a cool old plat map and a Google map of today.
I love this old area of Martin County. So much history. It is fun to drive along Old St Lucie Boulevard and through Golden Gate. There are still remnants of the past. To visit the old Golden Gate building on Dixie Highway now getting a new life as the office of House of Hope—that was once a real estate office…..an awesome old Whiticar Boatworks from a bit later…
One of the long forgotten thing about this area is that Sewall and Willoughby’s vision for this development was a deepwater port off of Sewall’s Point. According to historian Sandra Thurlow, “The port was to be established at the junction of the waterways known today as the Crossroads. It would be called “Port Santa Lucia” and would handle the vast amounts of produce that would be shipped out of the interior of Florida via the cross state canal.”
The cross-state canal in this reference? Yes, the cross state canal of the 1920s was the dreaded St Lucie Canal or more lovingly know today as C-44…the canal that connects Lake Okeechobee to the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
Willoughby and Sewall’s development and the Port of Santa Lucia never succeeded as the Great Depression of the 1920s killed that dream. But unfortunately part of the dream of that era lived on. Today the cross state canal or since named “Okeechobee Waterway” (C-44 in Martin County) does not transport vast amounts of fresh produce, but rather is used to “manage” the waters of Lake Okeechobee and to send sediment and nutrient filled Agricultural run off to feed algae blooms and destroy the property values of Sewall’s Point, Port Sewall, Golden Gate, and the rest of Martin County.
Golden Gate 1954Historic Port Sewall plat map 1913 – Version 2 (rotated for comparison.)Google maps of Port Sewall area today, 2016.SFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. The canal goes from Lake Okeechobee to the St Lucie River exiting at the ocean near Sewall’s Point and Hutchinson Island.Waters off of Sewall’s Point where the Port was to be located in August 2013 during high levels of discharges from Lake Okeechobee. (JTL)Releases from Lake O at tip of Sewall’s Point at the Crossroads, 2016. Photo Ed Lippisch.
Dr. Gary Goforth has more than 30 years of experience in water resources engineering, encompassing strategic planning, design, permitting, construction, operation and program management. (Photo JTL, 2015)…
The following was written by Dr Gary Goforth as a response to U.S. Sugar Corporation’s months long ad campaign in the Stuart News. http://garygoforth.net
· The health and economies of the St. Lucie River and Estuary, the Caloosahatchee Estuary, and Florida Bay have been sacrificed for decades by the management of Lake Okeechobee for the protection of US Sugar and other agricultural lands south of the Lake.
The recent ad blitz by US Sugar appears to be an attempt to divert the public’s attention away from this preferential treatment and from an egregious betrayal of south Florida taxpayers perpetrated by US Sugar, the Florida legislature and the Governor’s administration – the failure to exercise the willing seller contract to purchase US Sugar land south of the lake. Failure to secure needed land south of the Lake is the single biggest obstacle to long-term protection of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries from destructive Lake discharges, and providing Florida Bay and lower east coast wellfields with needed water.
· Water storage necessary to reduce high flows to the estuaries by about 90% will require about 10% of the land in the EAA – not complete elimination of farming in the area. The recent UF Water Institute study reconfirmed what scientists have been saying for decades – additional storage and treatment beyond what is currently planned in CERP and CEPP is needed south of the Lake: “If this required storage were to be provided strictly though deep 12-ft reservoirs, new land area between approximately 11,000 and 43,000 acres would be required south of Lake Okeechobee.” The upper limit – 43,000 acres – is less than ¼ of the amount of land US Sugar was willing to sell to the state (187,000 acres).
· Regarding the numbers in the ads – some are accurate, some are completely fictitious (e.g., the distribution of water from Lake Okeechobee), and many critical numbers are missing, e.g.,
-millions of pounds of nitrogen and phosphorus from lake Okeechobee that feed algal blooms and wreak havoc on the ecology of the river, estuary, lagoon and near-shore reefs. (million off pounds of nutrients that the State of Florida ignores in their BMAP progress reports for the St Lucie River.) – the hundreds of millions of pounds of Lake Okeechobee sediment that turned a once sand-bottom clear water estuary into a muck-filled lagoon that belches blackwater every time it rains. – the hundreds of millions of dollars of economic impact to local businesses, tourism and real estate values attributable to poor water quality If you’re interested go to the SFWMD’s (or my) website.
· Most of the area that the ads calls “local waterways” did not flow into the St. Lucie River (SLR) until after the major agricultural drainage canals (C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44) were dug, connecting more than 250,000 acres to the SLR. Historically these areas flowed north into the St. Johns River watershed, south into the Loxahatchee and Everglades watersheds, evaporated or recharged the groundwater.
· The ads ignore the fact that more than half of the “local watershed” is agriculture, and that more than half of the flows and nutrient loads to the St. Lucie River and Estuary come from agricultural land use.
· Nutrient loads from septic tanks along the Indian River Lagoon need to be addressed in cost-effective ways based on good science. Nevertheless, nutrient loading and sediment from Lake Okeechobee and agricultural runoff constitute a far greater threat to the health of the St. Lucie Estuary than does loading from Martin County septic tanks. The loading from septic tanks in Martin County have been overstated by upwards of 200-300%.
· The 2016 Florida Legislature was an unmitigated disaster for the environment of Florida, with misappropriations of Amendment 1 funds for the second year in a row and the passage of a water bill that rolled back environmental protection for the benefit of agricultural interests. What role did lobbyists for US Sugar and other agricultural interests play in this debacle? —–Dr. Gary Goforth
*Dr. Goforth has more than 30 years of experience in water resources engineering encompassing strategic planning, design, permitting, construction, operation and program management. For the last 25 years, his focus has been on large-scale environmental restoration programs in the Kissimmee-Okeechobee-Everglades ecosystem. He was the Chief Consulting Engineer during the design, construction and operation of the $700 million Everglades Construction Project, containing over 41,000 acres of constructed wetlands. He is experienced in public education, water quality treatment design and evaluation, engineering design and peer review, systems ecology, statistical hydrology, hydrologic modeling, hydrodynamic modeling, water quality modeling, environmental permit acquisition and administration, hydrologic and water quality performance analyses. (Website: http://garygoforth.net)
Lake Okeechobee’s S-308 at Port Mayaca, Ed Lippisch, May 13, 2016.
The first time I ever laid eyes on Lake Okeechobee, I was eleven years old. I remember thinking that I must be looking at the ocean because I could not see across to the other side. Just enormous!
In spite of its magnificent size, over the past century, Lake Okeechobee has been made smaller–around thirty percent smaller– as its shallow waters have been modified for human use–pushed back, tilled, planted, diked, and controlled. Today, it is managed by the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corp of Engineers. Sprawling sugar fields, the Everglades Agricultural Area, (EAA), canals, highways, telephone poles, train tracks, processing facilities, a FPL power plant, and small cites surround it.
S-308, (the “S” standing for “structure), opens easterly into the St Lucie Canal, also known as C-44, (Canal 44). About twenty miles east is another structure, S-80, at the St Lucie Locks and Dam. It is S-80 that is usually photographed with its “seven gates of hell,” the waters roaring towards the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, and the City of Stuart, but it is actually S-308 that allows the waters of Lake Okeechobee “in” from the lake in the first place.
Such a fragile looking structure to be the welcome matt of so much destruction…a sliver unto an ocean. So strange…
Today I will share some aerial photos that my husband took on Friday, May 13th, 2016 at about 700 feet above the lake. I asked Ed if from that height he could see the algae bloom so much in the news last week even though over time blooms migrate, “bloom” and then sink into the water column, becoming less visible but still lurking.
“Yes.” He replied.
” It’s harder to see from that altitude, and it depends on the light, but it’s still visible. It’s green in the brown water. The lighting shows were it is. You can see a difference in texture about 100 yards west of S-308. It is not right up against the structure, but further out. Boats are driving through it leaving a trail. It’s appears that is slowly being sucked in to the opening of the S-308 structure , like when you pull the drain out of the sink….”
S-308 at Port Mayaca, Indiantown, Martin County. Ed Lippisch, 5-13-16Dike and rim canal around Lake Okeechobee near S-308. Ed Lippisch, 5-13-16…ELopening S-308 EL…Looking towards S-308 from Lake O, boat going through bloom. Ed Lippisch, 5-13-15Remnants of bloom seen bunched in waves. Ed Lippisch 5-13-16.…EL…EL……ELC-44 or St Lucie Canal that is connected by S-308 to Lake Okeechobee.ELCloser view of algae bloom in C-44 near Indiantown “downstream” of Port Maraca and S-308 headed to Stuart. (JTL 5-10-16)SFWMD SLR basin and canal map showing S-308 and S-80 along with other structures.Algae Bloom in Lake Okeechobee: This aerial was taken last week by Will Glover as he was flying over Lake Okeechobee in a commercial airplane. It was shared on Facebook.
TC Palm’s Tyler Treadway reported on 5-13-16: “The lake bloom was spread over 33 square miles near Pahokee, the South Florida Water Management District said Thursday. The Florida Department of Health reported Friday the bloom contains the toxin microcystin, but at a level less than half what the World Health Organization says can cause “adverse health impacts” from recreational exposure.”
Pahokee is south and west of Port Maraca and S-308. (Florida Trails)
US Sugar ad, Stuart News, May 1, 2016.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
It’s easier to communicate your message when you have billions of dollars, but it is not a limiting factor if you don’t…
Today, I will share a “Draft Report” from Dr Gary Goforth. This report is a response he has created specifically to U.S. Sugar Corporation’s May 1st full- page ad in the Stuart News entitled: “The Water That Ends Up In Our Local Waterways.”
This is one of multiple full-page ads U.S. Sugar Corporation has run in the local Martin County paper over that past months trying to “educate” our citizenry. Why are they spending so much money doing this? Why all the propaganda? Because they know that though our advocacy for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, we are changing the course of human events. For the first time, many people and some important politicians and are looking at South Florida and saying “It needs to be re-plumbed…..”
Dr Goforth (http://garygoforth.net) is no stranger to these water issues, nor to the controversy and ability to manipulate the numbers complicated by the historic and supportive relationship between those doing business in the Everglades Agricultural Area south of the lake and today’s South Florida Water Management District. Thus the intertwined propaganda.
So here we go, each idea is presented on a separate slide. You can click the slide to enlarge if you need to. Thank you Dr Goforth!
DRAFT COMMENTS ON U.S. SUGAR AD—G.GOFORTH 5-4-16
12.
3.4.5.6.7.8.9.Full page ad 5-1-16 US Sugar, Stuart News.
Today, I was looking though my family library of photos and saw one from 2005, the year Ed and I got married.
“Boy we looked young,” I thought…”We have really changed…”
Then I noticed these SFWMD nutrient loading maps in the same file, as they were “published” in 2005 as well. These awesome maps were shared by SFWMD’s Boyd Gunsalus, such a helpful and smart person when it comes to water.
These SFWMD maps were very helpful to me when I was first learning about phosphorous and nitrogen loading by basins and Lake Okeechobee. The lake’s cumulative pollution is even higher than the different canals/basins. I would bet these numbers have not changed much. The state’s approach with BMAPS and TMDL’s is to be appreciated but just too slow.
Well, Ed and I have clearly aged and changed… but the maps–I bet if they made new ones for 2005-2016, the numbers would look about the same. I can’t say I’m envious. We are meant to change. To get better.
___________________________________________
Maybe a scientist will chime in and let me know???
Comparison of Lake Okeechobee releases to the St Lucie River & Estuary 2016, Dr Gary Goforth.
This year, the Army Corp of Engineers– with input from the South Florida Water Management District, and other stakeholders— has been discharging from Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River and southern Indian River Lagoon since January 29th, 2016. Today will review an April update.
We as citizens must pay attention and know what is happening to the river so that we can intelligently fight for its future.
Dr Goforth’s chart above gives a good visual comparison of 2016’s discharges, thus far, compared to those of 1997/98, another El Nino year with fish lesions, fish kills, and toxic algae reports. This chart also compares 2013, our recent “Lost Summer,” when toxic algae blooms filled the river, on and off, for about three out of five dumping months. (–Running May through October, 2013.)
One can see, that Lake Okeechobee’s 2016 discharge amounts are quickly approaching the total numbers released in 2013— although well below those of 1997/98.
Although discharges have been lessened lately, with the Army Corp of Engineers reporting a possible La Nina indications for the 2016 Hurricane season, (4-26-16 ACOE Periodic Scientist Call) considerably more rain could be on the way.
With the lake sitting at 14.29 today, —a high level going into “wet season,” starting June 1st—we should all be watching the situation very closely. Hopefully 2016’s total Lake O release numbers will be nowhere close to 1997/98.
We must continue to advocate hard for a third outlet, and land purchase south of the Lake Okeechobee, as this is the only way to spare our rivers’ repeated total destruction.
Thank you to Dr Goforth for his contribution today.
The following is from an email dated from Dr Gary Goforth on April 26, 2016 including the slide used for today’s blog and others of interest. Click on image to enlarge.
Hi all,
Attached are
1. Summary of the 2016 Lake discharge event to the St. Lucie River and Estuary.
2. Preliminary Water Year 2016 (May 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016 – missing April 2016) summary, including a. Inflows to Lake Okeechobee by basin, with comparison to last year b. Outflows from Lake Okeechobee by region, with comparison to last year c. Flow diagram for Lake releases, with comparison to last year d. Lake releases to STAs, with comparison to last year e. Nutrient and TSS load from Lake discharges to the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee Estuary f. The graphs are shown for both acre feet and billion gallons
Lake O has been drained and lowered so that it is approximately 250 square miles smaller than it was in the mid 1800s. (SFWMD) Florida became a state in 1845.
“Navigable waters of the state” are protected under Florida law. They cannot be sold–they cannot be owned. They belong to the public…
Although the Swamp Lands Act of the 1850s allowed for drainage of Florida’s swamp lands, in some instances the drainage and claims may have been overdone. In accordance with state law “you can’t convey what you do not own.” This is part of what is known as “The Public Trust Doctrine.”
Hmmm? In all the excitement to develop, did the state break its own rules in conveying lands south and around the lake? Certainly powerful entities own those lands today.
—–That would be a bite wouldn’t it?
Let’s look a bit closer….
It is common knowledge that Lake Okeechobee has lost a tremendous amount of its former self, and that large portions of the lake have been drained and diked for agriculture and development.
Just recently while attending a University of Florida Natural Resources Leadership Institute presentation in Clewiston, Jeff Summers of the South Florida Water Management District gave a Power-Point presentation using the slide below. It shows the natural vs. altered conditions of the lake going from approximately 1000 sq miles in the 1850s to 750 square miles today. –Thus the approximate water stage has gone from 20 feet to 14 feet. Definitely a loss of navigable waters–don’t you think? Today those lands around the lake are used for growing mostly sugarcane. Today most of those lands are “owned.” How could this be as they were once under water enough to be “navigable waters of the state?”
Slide from Jeff Summer’s power point presentation SFWMD, 2016.
The excerpt below is straight out of the “Florida Bar Journal” as shared by my brother Todd. After reading the paragraph, click on the link below to read the entire article. It is certainly worth thinking about…The maps below show land ownership.
Florida Bar Journal’s article conclusion:
The Public Trust Doctrine imposes a legal duty on the state to preserve and control title and use of all lands beneath navigable water bodies, including the shore or space between ordinary high and ordinary low water, for public use and enjoyment. The people of this state have raised the protection afforded by the doctrine to constitutional stature. In the most recent challenge to this doctrine, the Florida Supreme Court relied upon this constitutional provision in reconfirming longstanding Florida law that swamp deeds do not create a private property interest in sovereignty lands. Attempts to use swamp deeds as a justification to legislatively redefine the ordinary high water boundary and thus transfer all or part of the shore to the adjacent private owner are similarly inappropriate and unconstitutional.
Map of land ownership south and around Lake O TCRPC 2016. Key below.Key to above map, 2016 TCRPC.The bigger picture: Lake O used to flow to the Everglades but is now directed to the northern estuaries St Lucie/IRL and Caloosahatchee causing great destruction. Google Earth, 2016.
Sewall’s Point, Arthur Ruhnke ca. 1950. Photo courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
This is one of my favorite historic aerial photos of Sewall’s Point; I have used it before. It is on page 11 of my mother’s book “Sewall’s Point a History of a Peninsular Community on Florida’s Treasure Coast.”
Taken in the 1950s, the peninsula is basically undeveloped. The spoil islands, from dredging the Intercostal Waterway, sit to the east of the island lone and unattached…
One very special spoil island is in this photo as well. I think it is the one furthest north: Bird Island, or MC 2, is a small spoil island now off the Archipelago. Comparing the photo above and below you can see the changes to the east side of Sewall’s Point and Bird Island.
Aerial Sewall’s Point’s east side. JTL 2013.
I visited Bird Island yesterday with the Florida Wildlife Commission preparing for a field trip for their board who is meeting in South Florida this week. Bird Island was the first Critical Wildlife Area in the state of Florida designated in 20 years in 2014. This was an enormous accomplishment!
Kipp Fröhlich who was aboard boat yesterday said, “Yes it is amazing, we still don’t totally understand why the birds choose this particular island!” This is true. There are many to choose from.
One thing is for sure, the birds and humans love it here! It is a wonderful thing when wildlife and humans can reside together. Thank you FWC!
With FWC’s Ricardo Zambrano who oversaw the challenging goal of getting the idea off the ground and then achieving CWA status with the leadership of Martin County’s Deb Drum, Mike Yustin and team, the Town of Sewall’s Point, and stakeholders such as Sunshine Wildlife Tours, the commercial fishermen, and many others. After much work and broad support and years..the board of the FWC made the final approval.Ansley Taylor regional volunteer, Dr Carol Rizkalla, Ricardo Z. and Dep. Dir. Kipp Frohlich from Tallahassee. Dr Carol was instrumental in research for the success of the CWA.
Photo by Greg Braun who documented all bird life and nesting for MC during the designation.Happy wood storks on nests! JTL 4-12-16 There were Roseate spoonbills nesting too.Nesting spoonbills in mangroves 4-12-16. JTL
Yes, this morning was not unlike many others, here in Sewall’s Point, between the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon…
I get up, walk down stairs, pour a cup of coffee and ramble out into the darkness of a rising morning. The song of a bird calls through a new day. I am hopeful. I lean down and pick up the Stuart News looking for signs of sunrise east over the Indian River Lagoon. Beauty abides. Once inside, I open the paper looking through every page, and there on the back cover of Section A, yet another full-page ad from U.S. Sugar Corporation entitled “Here are the facts about moving Lake Okeechobee water south.”
“It is unbelievable how much effort U.S. Sugar is making to reframe the Lake Okeechobee discharges issue. “95% of water coming into the lake is from the north”…yes…and what else? Why is it so important for them to push this message here?
Maybe I do know why….
I go to my computer and look at my Facebook news feed. Immediately Bullsugar.org comes up.
This organization rising out of Martin County ‘s 2013 Lost Summer has gone from 0 to 61,355 friends in really less than a year. Their goal is to send the water south and fight the message that water can’t go south, especially the message of U.S. Sugar Corporation.
Interesting….is one message a reaction to the other or visa vera?
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people will see U.S. Sugar’s ad in the Stuart News today. Hundreds, and maybe thousands of people will see Bullsugar’s active Facebook page today.
One thing is for certain, the Bullsugar advocacy group is gaining strength and sophistication. They may not be able to afford full-page ads in the Stuart News, but by using social media they are giving one of the most powerful corporations in the world a “run for their money.” There is a momentum across the state for the first time in many years. Fascinating to watch. Sometimes as much as we don’t like to admit it, there’s nothing like a good fight.
1952 today’s Sailfish Point (cropped) Photo courtesy of Sandra Henderson Thurlow.
My father’s parents moved to Stuart, Florida from Syracuse, New York in 1952. This aerial photograph of the St Lucie Inlet was taken that same year so it holds personal significance to me.
This was one of many aerial photographs my parents acquired from Aurthur Ruhnke when he closed down his photography shop in Downtown Stuart during my childhood.
My mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow, wrote about the image when she first shared it with me in 2010.
“Jacqui, I have quite a few Sailfish Point images I have never scanned. This is one I think might do for you. It is one of the ones that has an exact date on it. February 28, 1952. It is before any of the Rand excavation took place. People would probably enjoy seeing the way the inlet looked as well as how the land was bisected with mosquito ditches. You can also see the fresh water lake and the way the waves broke over the reef. ” Mom
What else do you see?
Below I am including a timeline of the inlet with a history up to 1994, and ACOE dredging costs up to 2000. See links below for source of ocean science.net.
St. Lucie Inlet Jetties and Detached Breakwater
St. Lucie Inlet, Florida
Dredging Records
Date(s) Construction and Rehabilitation History
1892 St. Lucie Inlet, located at the south end of Hutchinson Island, is reported to have been cut through the barrier island by local residents. Initially, the inlet was 30 ft wide and 5 ft deep.
1909 Federal interest in a navigation project recommended Federal funding of a 18-ft channel as well as a jetty along the north side of the channel.
1913 The 1913 River and Harbor Act provided initial appropriation of funds for experimental dredging of a channel 18 feet deep across the reef and ocean bar.
1916 Federal construction of the channel seaward from the mouth of the inlet began. The dredged portion of the project rapidly shoaled with sand and abandonment was recommended in 1917 and again in 1933, but no action was taken.
1926-1929 Local interests constructed the north jetty out of coquina rock to a length of 3,325 ft. The maximum dimension of the rock was 6 to 7 ft with a density of about 120 pcf. The offshore 100- to 200-ft portion of the jetty was partly covered with granite blocks. Martin and St. Lucie Improvement District dredged a turning basin at Port Sewall and an 18-ft deep by 150-ft wide by 10,000 ft long channel.
1966 Federal legislation was passed modifying the St. Lucie Inlet project to include maintenance of a 6 by 100-ft channel along the best natural deep water alignment between the Federal bar-cut channel and the Intracoastal Waterway.
1974 An extension of the north jetty and modification to it for a weir section, excavation of a sand impoundment basin, construction of a south training jetty with a fishing walkway, a 10 by 500-ft channel through the bar-cut tapering to 150 ft through the inlet, and a 7 by 100-ft channel to the Intracoastal Waterway were authorized by Congress.
1979-1982 This Federal project consisted of extension of the north jetty 650 ft (350 ft south-southeasterly and then 300 ft southeasterly), construction of a 1,400-ft south jetty with fishing walkway and a connecting rock bulkhead, construction of a 400-ft detached breakwater directly south of the north jetty extension (700 ft apart at their outer ends), an entrance channel 16 feet deep by 300 feet wide, an inlet throat channel 10 feet wide, and the dredging down to rock of a 2,500 foot long by 450 foot wide impoundment basin. Capstone was to be 6 to 10 tons (at least 75 percent to be 8 tons or more), except on the outer ends of the jetties and the detached breakwater, where the capstone would weigh 10 to 12 tons. Estimated quantities for completion of the improvements were 64,800 tons of capstone, 8,000 tons of core stone, and 28,600 tons of foundation stone. The fishing walkway was built using asphaltic concrete cap and grouting mixes. During construction there was a severe problem with scour, and large apron blankets had to be added (no details on apron or jetty cross sections).
1994 Construction by non-Federal interests of a sand tight groin about 450 feet long at an elevation of about 4 feet NGVD located about 50 feet north of and parallel to the north jetty.
Looking at Lake Okeechobee from Port Mayaca in Martin County-sky and lake are one. (Gary Goforth)
Today I am going to share an adventure of engineer and St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon advocate Dr Gary Goforth. I will tie in his Lake Okeechobee experience with a few wonderful historic postcards from my mother, historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow. Although you couldn’t get my mother on a motorcycle if you paid her, there is a common thread. The lone cypress…
“The Lone Cypress…” You may have heard of it? As we know, cypress trees live for thousands of years. There were large forest of these magnificent trees prior to their being cut down around the turn of the last century. But a few still stand. Like this one in Moore Haven.
Dr Goforth’s account of his ride around the lake is inspirational. I have done it a couple of times by car, most recently during the final session of my UF Natural Resources Leadership Institute in Clewiston. During Dr Goforth’s ride, he visits the ancient cypress tree–the one in my mom’s historic post cards. I find this really cool. I hope you do too!
Historic map from 1948 book “Lake Okeechobee” written in 1948 by Alfred Jackson and Kathryn Hanna as part of the Rivers of America Series gives some idea of where the many cypress tree forests and others natural systems were once located.
“Hi Jacqui – I know you’re very busy as always – in fact more so these days I imagine. I got around to reading a recent blog of yours entitled “Taking the Emotion out of “Clewiston”-UF’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute, SLR/IRL.” I enjoyed it so much I thought I would share a trip I took on Sunday afternoon – a motorcycle ride around Lake Okeechobee.
It started out as a leisurely Sunday afternoon ride around the Martin County countryside. When I got to Port Mayaca I decided to head south for a couple of mile to the trailhead of the Lake to Ocean Trail – a 55-mile hike I’ll get around to tackling during cooler weather. When I got to the trailhead, I said what the heck – might as well circle the Lake. I’ve done the route before, and love to roll through the small towns that we are linked to primarily because of the Lake releases. Probably my favorite stretch is along the eastern shore of the Lake where the old-growth linear forests still remain – the magnificent cypress, bay, and others. My companion for the entire way around the Lake was the Herbert Hoover dike – almost always in sight off to my right along the small roads I took. Before I knew it I was passing through Sand Cut and Pahokee on my way to Belle Glade with their motto “Our Soil is our Fortune.” I thought of my Dad’s cousin Jack Fullenweider who was a general manager of the old Talisman sugar mill (bought by the State prior to construction of STA-3/4), and whose son, Jack, Jr. was a sheriff’s deputy in Belle Glade. I thought of Fritz Stein – a former District Board member from Belle Glade and all around good guy.
The traffic was light and the weather was beautiful. Before long I was riding along US 27/SR 80 with the big dike/dam to my right. The site of the 1928 breach and untold deaths. Along this stretch the ground level is the lowest of the entire lake’s perimeter; the Lake’s water level that day was a foot or two above ground level, which has subsided more than 6 feet since records began decades ago due to the drainage canals and ag practices. Around the rest of the Lake, the actual lake level is below the surrounding ground level.
Soon I was in Clewiston where the banners were hung announcing the upcoming Sugar Festival (today through Sunday). I thought of the many good folks who worry about the State purchasing US Sugar lands with the purported 12,000 people who would be out of a job – the folks that get angry at the estuary folks – and wonder who they turned their anger toward when US Sugar announced they had struck a voluntary deal to sell the land to Gov. Crist. What a missed opportunity, and to think the Legislature and Gov. didn’t go through with the deal – likely out of spite towards Gov. Crist – they didn’t want anything to do with extending his legacy. Deplorable. I put that out of my mind as I rode through Clewiston – a lovely little town.
Lone Cypress as it appears today.Picture taken in 1917 showing Lone Cypress tree as it appeared during the construction of Lock No. 1 in Moore Haven. (via Gary Goforth)
Before long I was in Moore Haven and thought about the big history of that small town – the early Indian canal excavations, the early dredging/draining activity of Hamilton Disston connecting the big lake to the Caloosahatchee, the farming community, the devastating hurricanes and the Lone Cypress Tree which has stood as a sentinel along the Caloosahatchee Canal since the days of Disston. The Lone Cypress Tree! I have always wanted to find that tree! So I rode around till I found it along the banks of the river/canal. It was beginning to send out the bright green needles and was remarkable in its majesty!
A few more miles on US 27 and I turned north onto SR 78 – a pleasant ride along the west side of the Lake. Pretty soon the road drops onto the floodplain of Fisheating Creek – the only unregulated tributary feeding Lake Okeechobee. I was reminded how the flows into the Lake from Fisheating Creek increased 6-fold this dry season compared to last year. All along the west side of the Lake are small mobile home and RV communities enjoying the good life!
Before long I crossed the Kissimmee River and was into the south side of Okeechobee. White pelicans ushered me along the road lined with hotels filled with seasonal fishermen and women. On around the lake and passing J&R Fish camp – busy with Sunday afternoon bikers. Many days I’ve enjoyed the free hot dogs and music. Before long I passed alongside of the FP&L cooling reservoir – site of the levee failure that occurred just before midnight in October 30, 1979.
Then I crested the bridge over the C-44 Canal with Port Mayaca off to the right. The calm water belied the massive and destructive discharges that were occurring, sending tons of sediment, algae and nutrients on their way to the troubled St. Lucie River and Estuary.
A quick turn back to the east onto SR 76, past DuPuis (my favorite public land to hike), past the sod and cane fields where once there was citrus and before long I parked the bike in the garage – it was a good ride.
Enjoy!
Gary
The attached photo of me on the motorcycle was taken on a post card perfect day in 2009 at Port Mayaca – the wind was calm, the Lake was still and the air was so clear you could see all the way across to Moore Have, some 30 miles to the southwest! I love how the water and sky blend together on the horizon.
…..Dr. Gary Goforth ready to tour Lake Okeechobee.
_______________________
After reading Gary’s account I kept thinking about that lone cypress standing like a sentinel as all has changed around it… I wrote my mother to see what she had in her history files. She sent the following four postcards from her historic collection:
We should all go ride and see it and make post cards or Facebook posts of our own!
1. Postcards courtesy of historian Sandra Henderson Thurlow.2.3.4.
And yes, in recent years, Florida has had a record numbers of tourists visit. In fact, tourism is the state’s #1 industry.
With Florida’s present water woes, one wonders if tourism can hold its # 1 place for our economy.
The life blood of this state has always been its waters, and right now the waters of our state are running with blood…but our government does not see this, nor are they listening, not empathically anyway.
This disconnect is clear by the Governor’s response to the recent Central Indian River Lagoon fish kill that lauds state agencies for their clean up work rather than noting the severity of the situation:(https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLDEP/bulletins/13f39d0)
Yes the Governor’s office and the state legislature are “working hard, “but a 30 year “Best Management Practices –Total Maximum Daily Load” plan and a watered down Amendment 1 compromise are not enough. The status quo response is trashing tourism. It is trashing the waters of the state. Let’s get to work and show a sense of urgency so people will continue to visit Florida in the future.
Same photo with additions. John Moran, Central IRL 2016.
This weekend I received an on-the-ground account of th Central IRL from blogger Jansen Jones : (http://phostracks.com/). Thank you Jansen.
Thank you John Moran for allowing his photos to be shared and making a special trip to the IRL to photograph. Mr Moran can be contacted at (http://springseternalproject.org)
Photo 3-20-16 Facebook, SWFL Clean Water Movement- Sarah Joleen / Cocoa Bch.
North, South, East, West….
You know I have really just about had it. I know you have too.
I am so tired of posting and writing about the sad state of affairs of our state waters. Every direction one turns!
This weekend many photos showed up on Facebook reporting an enormous fish kill in the Central Indian River Lagoon near Melbourne and Cocoa Beach. These photos of hovering and floating fish are very disturbing.
What is even more upsetting is when one considers the state of just about all of Florida’s waters. Is this the same state I grew up in as a child. Really?
To summarize a few recent, ongoing situations:
CENTRAL INDIAN RIVER LAGOON-experiencing “brown tide” and fish die off…
NORTHERN LAGOON: 2011-2013 Super Bloom, morality events (both north and central), 60% seagrass die off…
–ST LUCIE RIVER/S. INDIAN RIVER LAGOON: repeated discharges from Lake Okeechobee and area canals have destroyed the heath of the river. It was declared “impaired by the state in 2002. State of Emergency due to Lake O called in Feb. 2016).
—-CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER (The western outlet for lake Okeechobee discharges, the river has been straightened, and connected to Lake O. Sometimes suffers from too little fresh water/high salinity. State of Emergency due to Lake O called in Feb. 2016)
—FLORIDA BAY: over the past few years has lost massive amounts of sea-grasses due to high salinity. When I was just there with my UF NRLI class this year, the bay looked murky. This bay historically received the fresh waters from Lake O.
—FLORIDA SPRINGS– Some have gone dry and others are lacking sufficient flow due to aquifer withdrawal. Many have experienced algae blooms. Photographer John Moran has documented their decline.
–LAKE OKEECHOBEE–deluged with water from the mostly straightened Kissimmee River and others. It has been dammed and directed to the northern estuaries.
Florida is like Africa. We have a wet season and a dry season. This dry season has been very wet!
In today’s blog, I will share the most recent update by Dr Gary Goforth sent to Martin County on 3-13-15 entitled: “Summary of Dry Season Flows, November 1, 2015 – February 29, 2016.” Dr Goforth gives a summary and provides wonderful visuals. The “pages” he mentions in his summary for this post have been converted to slides. (Please view slides from left to right.)
Thank you Dr Goforth. (http://garygoforth.net)
Are are an integral part in helping us understand why we must sent the water south…
Engineer, Dr Gary Goforth.SFWMD satellite map, S.Fl. Water Conservation Areas (WCAs) are below the Everglades Ag. Area (EAA) which is just under Lake O.
” All,
Thought you might be interested in this comparison of dry season inflows to, and discharges from, Lake Okeechobee. Inflows to the Lake were 79% higher this dry season (Nov. 1 2015 – February 29, 2016) compared to a year ago, but Lake discharges have only been 1% higher due to the inability to send water south. Hence Lake stages have increased more than a foot above the level it was at this time last year.
The basins with the biggest increases in Lake inflows are those along the north and northwest shores of the Lake – but not the Upper Kissimmee, which exhibited a 50% reduction in flows to the Lake compared to last year.
As we’ve seen, because of the heavy rains south of the Lake and the agencies delay in moving water out of the Water Conservation Areas, WCAs, the estuaries have taken the brunt of Lake releases this year.
The flow estimates on the first 5 pages are in acre feet and in billion gallons on the second 5 pages.
Gary Goforth
Dry Season Summary slides Dr. Gary Goforth 3-15-16.
Thank you to my husband Ed for taking these photos once again of our east coast Indian River Lagoon inlets: Sebastian, Ft Pierce, and St Lucie– in this order. He took them Saturday, 3-12-16, around 4pm.
How to recognize a photo up close if you are not sure? Sebastian is recognized by its bridge over the inlet, Ft Pierce by the discharges exiting C-25 into the IRL at Taylor Creek near the marina, and Stuart’s St Lucie by “ball-like” Sailfish Point and undeveloped Jupiter Island south across the inlet.
Each inlet is unique, but all share that destructive channelized discharge waters running through them to the Atlantic Ocean—carrying sediment covering seagrasses, oysters, and reefs—too much freshwater for healthy fisheries and wildlife….and over nutrification—–
The rare, old-fashioned, 1987 “IRL Joint Reconnaissance Report “map below shows the Indian River Lagoon basin as a whole all the way from Ponce de Leon, in Volusia County to Jupiter Inlet, in Palm Bach County. The image shows the various freshwater discharge points into the Indian River Lagoon “basin.”
Yes, the Florida we know was “built on drainage” of the lands, but if the Florida of tomorrow is going to thrive, this system must be re-plumed/reorganized.
As we are aware, and have been aware, we are slowing killing our treasured ecosystem with these discharge outlets. It is time to rethink the drainage equation. Hopefully, in the future, “the canal map” will not look like this, nor will the aerials. To view series of aerials below, please click image and then direct with arrows.
Source: Indian River Lagoon Joint Reconnaissance Report 1987 as shared by Gary Roderick.
Aerials of Sebastian, Ft Pierce and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlet 3-12-16 Ed Lippisch.
Today I am sharing a “gallery” of discharge photographs from my husband Ed’s flight over Ft Pierce, Sebastian, and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlets. The photos were taken yesterday, March 6th, 2016, around 2pm.
A picture speaks a thousands words…(In this case through about 106 frames.) Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day, yet area waters estuarine and ocean were not necessarily so. —-Certainly not those surrounding the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon near the St Lucie Inlet.
The discharge levels and reports for Lake Okeechobee can be reviewed at the Army Corp of Engineer’s Jacksonville website here: http://w3.saj.usace.army.mil/h2o/reports.htm. Lake Okeechobee is reported at 15.68.
The ACOE will be releasing less according to a recent press release.
Ft Pierce, Sebastian, and Stuart’s St Lucie Inlet, 3-6-16, Ed Lippisch
Mr. Robert Crandall, the chief executive of American Airlines from 1985 to 1998 and leading the fight against All Aboard Florida in Martin County.
“I can’t believe you are not marching in the streets with pitchforks; this is going to ruin your county.” Bob Crandall, 2016
There was something about him. Maybe it was the confidence that radiated, or the casual way he put his hands in his pockets while looking people straight in the eye…something about him let you know that you were dealing a legend… the kind of person they don’t make anymore…
On February 24th, I attended the Stuart Chamber’s Government and Transportation Committee’s guest speaker series. On this day it was Robert “Bob” Crandall, former chief executive of American Airlines who lives in Palm City. Mr Crandall and C.A.R.E. are leaders in the fight against All Aboard Florida. (AAF)
Trying to understand All Aboard Florida is difficult. It is multi-layered and after a while its easy to glaze over. Acronyms like FDFC; EIS; ROD and the discussion of extensions and bonds can turn off even the most interested. So today I am just going to share “the simple” and “the why” of Mr Crandall’s presentation and summarize why “we need to grab our pitchforks.” I will end with a true quote form Martin Health System.
AAF is a health and safety issue.
There will be less business, period. Noise and vibration will all facilitate less business in Downtown Stuart, and cause structural harm to its businesses, and historic Lyric Theatre.
Property values will decline.
A train going 55 miles per hour takes one mile to stop. These trains will go faster.
Pedestrians such as in Golden Gate, used to slower trains, will not correctly judge speeds. There will be accidents .
The costs to Martin County is estimated to be $323,000 in 2016; $1,000,000 by 2020; and $3,000,00 by 2040. Taxes WILL be forced up.
The Maritime industry will suffer greatly. Property values for marinas and homes on west side of bridge will decline. Boaters will be frustrated and leave the area.
The Roosevelt Bridge is now closed 3 hours and 30 minutes a day; with AAF it will be closed 9 hours and 30 minutes a day.
The 80-year-old bridge over the St Lucie River WILL get stuck…
Dangerous substances will eventually be coming through. Freight is the long-term goal.
We can’t win politically; we have to win legally.
For me things really set in my mind after Mr Crandall’s talk. During the question answer period the representative from Martin Health System said the following. I kid you not. He said the following: “If All Aboard Florida goes thorough, people will die.” He was speaking of ambulances stuck at tracks. Seconds count if you have a heart attack.
I thought to myself: “This is unbelievable. The most conservative of our community and the number one employer of our community just said ‘people will die.’ And the chamber has not taken a position. Why aren’t we out in the street with pitchforks?”
Homes of Mr and Mrs S.F. Webb, and Capt. John and Annie Miller–Eden, Florida, along the ridge of the Indian River Lagoon, 1910. Pineapple fields in foreground. (Photo Patty Childs via Sandra Thurlow’s book Eden and Jensen.)
Today I am sharing a historic photograph from my mother’s book “Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River.” It is a remarkable photo that takes us to another time and place. Looking at the river viewed from the ridge, we witness our region’s pioneer history when hard-working people like Mr and Mrs S.F. Webb, and Capt. John and and Annie Miller bought acreage along the Indian River Lagoon, cleared the land, planted pineapples and built a school.
My mother writes: “Jensen Beach evolved from the historic communities of Eden and Jensen perched beside the Indian River. This estuary beginning above Titusville and stretching south along the Florida east coast for more than 140 miles to the Jupiter Inlet, served as a highway for early settlers when sailboats were the primary mode of transportation.” –Sandra H. Thurlow
The river may not be our primary mode of transportation today and the pineapple fields are long gone, but it is certainly the reason why many of us are here. The river continues to be our path…the way…
…Book page 64 from Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River, by Sandra Henderson Thurlow available at the Elliott Musem and Stuart Heritage.
This morning I went searching for inspiration so I visited the “Florida Memory Project” and typed in Lake Okeechobee. A variety of historical photos came up. So interesting. Old photos of an ancient shoreline rimmed with pond apple, cypress trees, white sandy shorelines and loads of fish. Photos of building the dike and dredging around Lake Okeechobee…even some in another section of the St Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. And then this aerial from 1968 of a VMCJ-2 squadron EA-6B Prowler photographed over Lake Okeechobee. I was captivated looking at this photo. The early days of color photography …dreamlike…
And the lake is so large– over 35 miles long and 28 miles across –70% its original size–still enormous! You can tell the pilot flying next to this airplane took the photograph. Skill. Teamwork. Belief.
1968— This was a time of great social change and struggle in the United States, but also a time of great determination. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969, shortly after this photograph was taken. This EA-6B jet is not a space ship, but it too represents the technological capabilities of the United States. Our ability to achieve when we believe.
When this photograph was taken, I was four years old. I remember this time in spirit if not in memory. Nonetheless, it is ingrained in me, as in all Americans, that we can accomplish anything if we put our minds to it. This photo is an image that remind us that we CAN fix water in the state of Florida if we take the wide view and the high view of Lake Okeechobee. And if we believe.
Dr Gary Goforth has been kind enough to update his “Flows South Comparison”report. I posted his previous one just this week on 2-22-16. His most recent comparison is included below in slide format. Please click on the slides to enlarge and view information.
The numbers are staggering.
At this point, more than 171,000 acre feet (55.99 billion gallons) of Lake Okeechobee water (blackwater) has been dumped to the river/estuary during just the first 26 days of the 2016 Lake releases; this is equal to 41% of the entire 2013 releases and 16% of the 1997/98 El Nino event. …
We are in for a very difficult, long year of discharges for our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon; and they have more than likely “just begun.” We must remain updated, educated, and vocal —and documenting–take photos share what you see. Last night I was told there are dead fish in the area of Sailfish Marina. If you see such a thing take a photo and post it or send it to me with location etc….(jthurlow@me.com) Also continue contacting our state and federal partners and advocating that land be purchased south of the lake to offset these type of events. We shall and are turning this Titanic.
“Clam Diggers” Gloucester, MA by Emile Gruppe as shared by Gloria Fike from a Christmas card years ago sent by Frances Langford.
Water…and the gifts of life from the water….
Today I am sharing a beautiful work of art that is connected to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon by the late, famous, and long time resident, Frances Langford. She resided most of her life along both rivers’ shores.
Kimberly Falconer is a friend of mine that I grew up with here in Martin County. Kim now lives in Miami as owner of “Ocean Adventures.” After reading my blog post a few weeks back about the famed Gruppe collection of Frances Langford, she wrote:
“—-thought I would share a few images with you. This one is of artist Emile Gruppe’s painting entitled“Clam Diggers Gloucester, MA.” It was reproduced as a Christmas card by Frances. Feel free to use it however you wish. Credit for sharing should go to my mother, Gloria Cabre Fike.” (Kim’s family was great friends with the late Mrs. Langford.)
Today is supposed to bring heavy rains again due to the El Nino conditions. Our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon will continue to be destroyed by releases from Lake Okeechobee and the area canals. I though this image might be of interest and inspiration and a break from the aerial photos. Think of it as an early Christmas card from Frances Langford.
I think the image says a lot about the intricate relationship between man and water whether it be in Massachusetts or Florida.
…..Dead pelican floating in discharge water, recent photo from Jupiter Island’s, photo credit: The Guardians.
These aerial photos were taken around 4PM by my husband, Ed Lippisch, this past Sunday, 2-21-16. They show the Lake Okeechobee/area canals’ plume moving south along Jupiter Island over nearshore reefs. There are photos of the exclusive neighborhood, Sailfish Point, at the mouth of the St Lucie Inlet as well.
High levels of Lake Okeechobee and canal discharge water (7000 cfs +/- at S-80) continue to decimate the seagrasses, oysters, fish, and bird life of the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. Our reef communities and property values are also affected.
Unfortunately, even with unprecedented state and federal actions of the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corp of Engineers to “move water south” from the Water Conservation Areas to Everglades National Park, there is presently no end in sight for the northern estuaries.
There has to be a better way. “Finishing the projects” is not enough….
Over the weekend at my niece Julia’s lacrosse game I ran into a former fellow commissioner, and long time Martin County resident, Dr Paul Schoppe.
“Hey Jacqui,” he said. “I was just thinking about you…”
“Oh really, ” I replied.
“Yes. I was thinking about you when I went down to my dock and saw a dead Snook floating in the foamy dark water….. What are we doing about this river…..?”
Yesterday, I received a call from a Sewall’s Point resident informing me of a phone call he got from a friend in real estate. The friend was photographing the water at his listing on the St Lucie River and forwarding the photos saying: “I hope the buyers don’t cancel when they see the water. They are doing their walk through today.”
At Publix, that evening, I ran into an old-timer of Stuart. He said to me: “Jacqui of course there have been releases from the lake for years…the difference now is that the water is so polluted….”
Blue line 2013 releases into SLR/IRL, red 2016. It is only February and we are 1/3 there. Discharge amounts are much higher this time. Slide, Todd Thurlow.Cumulative 2-18-16 Slide created by SFWMD data via Todd Thurlow. Click to enlarge.….
“—Here it is graphically vs 2013 – The year of ‘The Lost Summer.’ As you can see, as we approach 75 billion gallons we are already one-third of the way to the amount released in of all of 2013. It took us until July 30, 2013 to accumulate 75 billion gallons of discharges in that year.” —-Todd Thurlow(http://www.thurlowpa.com)
Today I am sharing numbers from my brother, and photos from my husband. Documenting the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is a family effort. I am very fortunate to have such help.
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is not so fortunate. Right now as you can see from the two slides above, the cumulative discharges into the rivers are already one-third the total amount released by the ACOE/SFWMD into the estuary during 2013’s “Lost Summer.” We are experiencing another complete ecological disaster and rainy season doesn’t even begin until June 1st…
Sometimes I am speechless… Sometimes my eyes swell with tears thinking about all this and the sun hasn’t even risen….but I take a deep breath and know my duty.
We will not give up. We will shine a light on this issue for all the world to see; and for us to change. And we will.
….SLR approaching SL Inlet. (All photos, Ed Lippisch 2-17-16)…Sewall’s Point once surrounded by rich seagrass bed much fish and wildlife. Years of destruction from discharges especially has taken a great toll.….Sailfish Point…..Crossroads–seagrass beds covered in silt and viewed through blackwater.….Jupiter Island….….Plume leaving inlet. This year Ed says it is skinnier going further south than in 2013. It is reported about 2 miles out the inlet on outgoing tides.…..Jupiter Island….Jupiter Narrows, Jupiter Island…Jupiter Island….Jupiter Island beach
Water Conservation Areas as seen below the Everglades Agricultural Area. South Florida is compartmentalized to control water to “protect” farms and people ….this does always work.
We are in rain-year not seen before….
The state is overflowing…..
Our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is again being destroyed by too much fresh, dirty, water….
Why is it so hard to send this water south?
It is “so hard to move water south” because the state of Florida has been compartmentalized to protect the Everglades Agricultural Area south of Lake Okeechobee and to keep-dry much of the lands that we live on. And now our waters are polluted…
Imagine, if you would, what would be going on here in South Florida now if modern man had never “conquered” it….Basically it would be a clean free-flowing marsh all the way from Shingle Creek in Orlando through Lake Okeechobee to the Everglades.
Well that it is no longer the case, is it? Since the 1920s, and more so since the 1940s, these lands have been drained, and diked, and altered, so that humans can grow food, and live here –inadvertently polluting the system. It is an imperfect situation and we must try to understand it, so we can make it better as we all need clean water.
1850s map of FloridaToday’s flow into SLR and Caloosahatchee from Lake Okeechobee used to flow south.
So for the everyday person trying to figure out “what is going on” right now, let’s take a look at “today:”
It has been raining lot. Since the end of January, the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon and Caloosahatchee are being destroyed once again as the state of Florida and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dump incoming waters out of Lake Okeechobee so that the Everglades Agricultural Area south of the lake and surrounding communities are not flooded. Drainage and property in our area is part of this too.
A rare situation occurred this past week where Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, issued an order to release water south through a canal into the Everglades. He had to confer with the US ACOE to do this. (Due to poor water quality and safety, just “sending water south” is not allowed. But now with so much water, it is an emergency.)
The Water Conservation Areas south of the EAA, —these gigantic areas (see bottom slide) that are considered part of the Everglades and full of wildlife and in some places sacred Native American tree islands, are so full of water that they have to be dumped first. If they are lowered, then more water can enter from the Everglades Agricultural Area and hopefully Lake Okeechobee itself. Then, and only then, would there be less dumping into the St Lucie River/IRL and Caloosahatchee. We have a long way to go and its not even “rainy season.”
I commend all those working hard to alleviate the overflowing system and I encourage investment in working to improve this relic as well as investment in the children who must be part of the goal to re-plumb this system. Dr Gary Goforth shows us how it is working right now as I asked for a simple explanation to share with the River Kidz.
Gary Goforths’ image to explain “water going south.”
“Jacqui—
Due to increased stormwater pumping from the EAA and surrounding areas and direct rainfall, the water levels in the WCAs are too high. Last week the Gov. sent a letter to the Corps requesting authorization to raise water levels in the Tamiami Canal allowing increased flows into the Park through Northeast Shark River Slough. Yesterday the District began making those increased discharges through structure S-333. Whether or not the District will send additional Lake water south is yet to be seen – lowering the stage in the WCAs should help. See the map above. (from page 2 of the attached).”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 11, 2016
CONTACT: GOVERNOR’S PRESS OFFICE
(850) 717-9282
media@eog.myflorida.com
DEP and FWC Issue Orders to Allow Army Corps of Engineers to Ease Effects of Flooding
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) issued orders that will allow the U.S. Army Corps to move more water south through Shark River Slough to ease the effects of flooding in South Florida. Click HERE (http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/FFWCC.pdf)
to see the orders.
Earlier today, Governor Scott sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take immediate action to relieve the flooding of the Everglades Water Conservation Areas and the releases of water from Lake Okeechobee to the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie Estuaries. To read the letter, click HERE (http://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2.11.161.pdf).
Just last year, Florida Realtors, “The Voice for Real Estate in Florida,” published a final report on the impacts of water quality on Florida’s home values. “March 2015 Final Report.”
The first page of the executive summary states:
“There has long been a belief that there is a connection between home values and the quality and clarity of Florida waterways. The objective of this study was to determine whether that belief is in fact true.
We examined the impact of water quality and clarity on the sale prices of homes in Martin and Lee counties over a four-year period, from 2010-2013. What was clearly found was that the ongoing problem of polluted water in the Caloosahatchee and St Lucie rivers has indeed resulted in a negative impact on home values.
In addition, the study found a significant economic impacts resulting from improved water quality and clarity. Lee County’s aggregate property values increase by an estimated $541 million while Marin County’s aggregate property values increase by an estimated $428 million. These increased property values also provide additional revenue for city and county governments.”
…..
Unfortunately this report, very much like the University of Florida Report, was basically ignored by the South Florida Water Management District and the state legislature when speakers came before them last year using this document and asking for relief.
As we enter yet another long summer of water pollution, may we re-familiarize ourselves with this report; we are going need to reference it again. Even though this is certainly “common sense,” it helps to have the formal report in hand when speaking.
Here is the full document for your reference. Reading through you will see the story of Lake Okeechobee’s worsening polluting discharges and our property values’ decline.
Martin County Fair 2016Since my childhood the Martin County Fair has been one of my favorite times of year. US Sugar was not an advertiser when I was growing up here.First sign displayed upon entering fairgrounds., 2016
At the chance of sounding like “a sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal,” I would like to share my experience yesterday at the Martin County Fair.
Mind you, for me, the Martin County Fair is as apple pie as a once clean river. Growing up in Martin County the fair was THE event of the year. We waited all year for it to come to town!
It was the one place our parents would set us “free” to run around and visit our friends, go on the ferris wheel and the Zipper!—-Scrunched together in the gravity of middle school, this was about as much fun as could possibly be attained…..I have wonderful memories of the fair.
Most recently, I have gone to the Fair with my nieces, and last night by myself. My husband, Ed, wanted to piddle around at the airport just across the street….Well, yesterday when I walked through the fair’s gate there was a most prominently posted sign that read: “U.S. Sugar.”
Sign….
This surprised me. This bothered me.
I knew they were a sponsor for the fair but I was taken aback that this was the first sign one would see upon walking into the fairgrounds from the entrance gate. Thousands of parents and children saw that sign right before they had a ton of fun…
Hmmmm?
I complained to Ed later. “Jacqui are you really surprised?” he asked….”The fair needs sponsorships. U.S. Sugar is marketing…”
Maybe my eyes are not totally opened, but I do find a U.S.Sugar banner prominently displayed at the Martin County Fair odd and ironic.
I find this ironic as at this very moment the gates of S-80 are at “maximum capacity” forcing the polluted waters of the Lake Okeechobee into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon. The lands of U.S. Sugar are blocking the flow south to the Everglades.
Often I hear that the fault lies north as those waters are coming from the Kissimmee basin not south of the lake. To me that is like stopping in traffic and blaming a car two miles up the road for the traffic jam.
Last year, U.S. Sugar did not support the purchase of option lands that could have eventually alleviated this problem. I don’t think it is morally right for them to advertise at our fair until they take leadership on this issue…but then…
—-“all is fair in love and war.”
And I will speak for love…
The red colored blocks south of Lake O. are the EAA-700,000 acres of sugar lands and vegetables. South of the EAA are the STAs and water conservation areas .(SFWMD map, 2012.)The big picture…the EAA blocks the water from flowing south into the Everglades. EF. The water is directed to the coasts through the St Lucie and Caloosahatchee.S-801st area to enter upon entering fairgrounds, with US Sugar banner prominently displayed. 2016.
Chart by Dr Gary Goforth accompanying his letter comparing pollutants into SLR/IRL from Lake O and C-44 basin area 1980-2015For many years Dr Gary Goforth led STA projects for the SFWMD. He is now independent.
“Death by the numbers”…
Simply click on the image above to view 1980-2015. Numbers showing Lake Okeechobee and C-44 Basin flow rates and pollutants into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon as presented by Dr Gary Goforth in his letter to Martin County dated February 9th, 2016.
This letter indeed helped the Martin County Commission decide to call a State of Emergency and perhaps Senator Joe Negron shared it with the Governor as well, inspiring the Governors’ call to the Asst. Secretary of the Army Corp of Engineers to “stop the discharges.” Great requests.
It would probably be easier for the ACOE to achieve such with some significant land south of the lake…..
Hmmmmm?
Anyway—-
The state knows it. The federal government knows it. We all know it. The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon have been sacrificed —–not for the common good, but for the interests of agriculture and development.
It is “death by the numbers” and it should stop.
Excerpt from Dr Gary Goforth letter to Martin County, 2-9-16.:
1. The intentional destructive Lake releases knowingly cause environmental and economic damage to the region; the State of Florida and US government intentionally cause these by sacrificing our region in order to protect the area south of the Lake, and should therefore, the Lake releases should be considered Emergency Operations. The BOCC should declare a State of Emergency and ask the State/feds to do the same. This may free up funds to help the region’s businesses and residents that will suffer losses as a result of the discharges.
2. In addition to water, the Lake releases carry significant amount of pollution and sediment/muck – the amount of nitrogen from the Lake over the next few months will likely dwarf the amount coming from septic tanks, and greatly exceed the TMDLs for nitrogen and phosphorus.
3. We can’t forget that the River & Estuary also receive local basin runoff in addition to Lake releases, so the Lake releases are destructive above and beyond impacts from local runoff. The “local” watershed is more than twice the natural drainage due to addition of C-23, C-24, C-25 and C-44 Canals.
4. The BOCC should ask the State and Corps to stop the releases immediately. They should ask that inflows to the Lake be reduced, that the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes be operated per their regulation schedules and NOT FOR USFWS purposes, that Holey Land and Rotenberger be used to the maximum safe depth (temporarily exceeding their 0-1 ft operating schedules), that the STAs receive as much Lake water as possible – based on hydraulic not water quality criteria, allow the WCAs to temporarily be operated above the regulation schedules up to maximum safe depths to allow Lake inflows, and that the District temporarily put water on as many public lands (e.g., a portion of DuPuis) as dispersed water management.
View of convergence of SLR/IRL between Sailfish Point and Jupiter Island. Plume from Lake O discharges flowing out into ocean. Photo 2-7-16, Ed LippischCanals in Stuart, C-23, C-24, C-25 built in the 50s and 60s. C-44 connected to Lake Okeechobee constructed in the 1920/expanded in 1940s. The natural basins of the SLR have been tremendously enlarged plus Lake O water. This is killing the SLR/IRL. More water must go south.
It is important to know how to “speak the language” of the ACOE and SFWMD.
The St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon is once again under siege. The Army Corp of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District are doing the will of the reigning powers and discharging tremendous amounts of water and pollutants from Lake Okeechobee and altered surrounding lands (basins) into the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.
We must learn how to interpret this destruction and how to use their language of “cubic feet per second,” (cfs), when talking about discharge amounts from Lake Okeechobee and area canals into the SLR/IRL.
I am not good at this interpretation, but someone I know is….
As in most families, each chid in my family was born with different talents. My brother, Todd Thurlow, got all the number and sharp analytical skills that I did not. I am very thankful to him for helping with my St Lucie/Indian River Lagoon educational efforts.
Todd has created a VERY EASY way to convert cubic feet per second (the language of the ACOE/SFWMD discharges) into gallons. All you have to do is click on this link below and put in the numbers. Seriously.
For instance if you click on the link today, it will show that S-80 is last reported to be releasing approximately 6800 (cfs) cubic per second, down from just under 7600. Just enter 6800 in the top box and it will be converted to 1. gallons per second; 2. gallons per day; and 3. “olympic size swimming pools” (in honor of Stuart News reporter Tyler Treadway’s common example for communicating with the public.)
Go to this link now, and try it! You will be amazed at how east this is. To win this war, we must be able to speak “their” language and to understand.
Click on chart below to get started. Save the link to have it handy for this year. It is going to be a difficult one and we are going to need to know what we are talking about in order to negotiate and to communicate.
Clewistons’ US Sugar Corporation refinery with fields surrounding, 2013. (Aerial, Dr Scott Kuhns)Sugar refinery with cane in foreground, public photo.Land ownership
U.S. Sugar Corporation…..I always think of them as a giant corporation “south of the lake,” blocking the waters of Lake Okeechobee causing the waters to be redirected to our St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon…Well “they” are no longer just south of the lake….
“They’re here”———and I am not speaking about cane fields.
“They’re here.” Poltergeist 1982.
I have been thinking about writing this blog post since October of 2015, but waited. It was in October of 2015, from a very reliable source, that I first heard that U.S. Sugar Corporation had become a member of the Martin County Economic Council. I was surprised. This is a game changer for Martin County in my opinion. And then I started looking around and realized that they had been here to influence for a while and I just had not noticed…
US Sugar listed as a trustee member on the Economic Council of Martin County’s Website’s 2016
For instance a couple of months ago, my husband Ed and I attended an event at the historic Lyric Theater. My husband, Ed, started donating in both our names to his beloved Lyric Theater shortly after our marriage in 2005. About two months ago we attend an event and when we sat down to have our picture taken against the newly designed Directors’ Circle Donor Wall, I notice that our name is right up there “in bronze “with US Sugar Corporation. “This is new,” I thought to myself….”Wow.”
“I didn’t see that last time we were here….Interesting.”
Bronze walled sponsors for the Lyric. Look left third up.Ed and I have been list on the wall since 2006.Lyric booklet of Director Circle Donors
OK let’s continue ….
So then yesterday, I go to Office Depot to get a special pen, and while I am standing in line a nice lady hands me the brochure for the upcoming Martin County Fair. I have attended the fair since middle school—an iconic event. I smile, thank her, open the brochure, and guess who is one of the sponsors?
Yes. US Sugar Corporation.
Martin County Fair brochure 2016
When I really think about it, I guess this is no surprise as US Sugar Corporation has been very visible trying to improve their image locally in the Stuart News after 2013’s “Lost Summer” toxic algae fiasco spending $100,000s of dollars on ads like the one below. I wonder where their influence will show up next?
In any case they are not just south of the lake, “they’re here.” This is becoming more and more obvious. Look around.
— The good thing is we’ll have a chance for conversation a little closer to home…I look forward to it.
S-153 drains this area.S-153 drains into the C-44 canal and then the St Lucie RiverSFWMD canal and basin map. C-44 canal is the canal most southerly in the image. See S-153 northeast of the C-44 “basin” area.
Water, water everywhere….
The ACOE and South Florida Water Management District are scrambling….they will have to start dumping from the lake and the local basin runoff is exceeding targets ….But is all the runoff into the C-44 really from a local basin? No it’s not.
Let’s drill down a bit.
The ACOE’s recent press release reads:
“FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Corps to increase flows from Lake Okeechobee
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District intends to release
more water from Lake Okeechobee starting this weekend as it continues to
manage the lake level in the midst of El Nino conditions.
Starting Friday (Jan. 29), the new target flow for the Caloosahatchee
Estuary will average 2,800 cubic feet per second (cfs) over seven days as
measured at W.P. Franklin Lock (S-79) near Fort Myers. The new target flow
for the St. Lucie Estuary is a seven-day average of 1,170 cfs as measured at
St. Lucie Lock (S-80) near Stuart. However, runoff from rain in the Caloosahatchee or the St. Lucie basins could occasionally result in flows
that exceed targets as the water passes through the spillway gates at the
Franklin or St. Lucie structures…”
What we have to remember is that the “basin,” the lands that water runs off of into the St Lucie River has been altered by agriculture and development ….so to call “all the water” going into the St Lucie its own basin water is really misleading and not respectful of history….
Let’s look at S-153 for instance, a spillway that is presently dumping approximately 1.2 billion gallons into the C-44 which then goes into the St Lucie River. If man had not altered this area, much of this water would naturally be flowing back into the lake…so again we really should not refer to it as “basin runoff” that belongs to the St Lucie River. Today large portions of this area are agriculture fields and an FPL energy plant so the run off water of this area has been redirected from the lake to us.
S-308 drain LO; S-153 drain area around FPL plant.
Hmmm?
Let’s reflect for a moment on this information from my brother Todd:
“Jacqui,
According to my C-44 page the gates at the locks are up 2ft and dumping 4451cfs which equals 2.8 billion gallons per day.
Nothing is coming from the lake so they will say that this is all local runoff because S-308 at Port Mayaca is at 0? That S-153 spillway is dumping 1.2 billion into C-44. It seems to pull water west of Indiantown that would have otherwise gone into the lake not to the St. Lucie?
Todd of course is right. And 1.2 billion gallons of extra fertilized, dirty water is worth noting. Don’t you think? The least they could do is filter it!
Todd and I will look into this further with historic maps of the old creek and ridge system prior to development and how the water historically flowed prior to S-153 flows, etc—– but for now, let’s not entirely be sold “up the creek,” by believing the all this water is “local” basin runoff.
Because it’s not. 🙂
Other basin changes are also bringing excess water into the river right now. This map shows general drainage changes to the SLR. Green is the original watershed. Yellow and pink have been added since ca.1920. (St Lucie River Initiative’s Report to Congress 1994.)
